Chapter 25 Blaise
These assholes were going to be the death of me. Either because we fought to the bitter end or because Roman would kill me when I destroyed the arrogant fae and the obnoxious wolf.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I snarled at Dorian.
He stopped walking toward the exit and plopped his bloodied mop down, making a sickening sucking sound as the tendrils spread on the stone floor. “I’m done. I didn’t make this mess, and I’m finished cleaning it up.”
In a rush of wind, I ran to his side, Roman’s blood giving me a little extra speed.
Deep below my skin, the dragon inside of me roared.
He’d been more present since Katarina had entered our lives.
As a half-breed, I’d never been able to shift and meet the beast—something these assholes never let me forget.
But that didn’t mean I wasn’t a large man with big muscles and an angry glare that helped me become Roman’s number two.
“Stop growling,” Dorian muttered as I towered over him.
“You don’t scare me.” Dorian looked terrible.
The dark bags under his eyes and the pale, gaunt look of his skin that the goatee couldn’t cover was unusual for him.
Dorian loved to swoon everyone, and right now, this wolf had lost all his shine. It almost made me feel a little bad.
Almost.
“I’m not trying to scare you,” I snarled. “Roman needs us and—”
“What the fuck is he doing?” Aiden asked. He’d thrown his own mop to the ground where he’d been cleaning up the remnants of the dead and stood in the center of the room with his hands on his hips. “We’ve been waiting for days to go after her.”
I snapped my head around to face him. “He was trying to get information.”
“From people who’d had their memories cleared by a vampire more powerful than him.” Dorian shook his head as he continued. “I mean, seriously. What the fuck is going on in this city?”
“Roman says that—”
“Fuck Roman,” Aiden interrupted me. “He’s off mourning his blood whore while Katarina is facing god knows what and—”
I grabbed his neck so fast he couldn’t get the last of his thought out. He kicked at me for a few moments before settling into the hold. His arrogance…absolutely astounding. He knew I wouldn’t kill him, and he was right. But while I had him under my grip, I could make a few things clear.
“Roman has been in charge of New Orleans for a hundred years. We’ve been challenged before and we’ve overcome it,” I started, slowly releasing my hand before I ripped Aiden’s throat out. Roman wouldn’t approve of that.
“This time is different,” Dorian said quietly as he walked to us.
“I can feel it. It’s not just about Katarina.
I think she was just the first domino to set a plan into motion.
And Pasha? They didn’t need to kill him.
” Looking up at me with his green eyes tinged with the gold of his wolf, he added, “I mean, seriously. Look at us! We are all a mess and Roman is the worst. He is weak and they know it.”
“I should rip your heart out and—”
“Blaise?” A disembodied male voice cracked over the communications system wired throughout the abbey. “Sir? We have visitors.”
“Who?” I growled into the air, still trying to decide if I should fight with Dorian for talking about Roman that way.
“The Mayor. And the Senator. And…” The man paused and shuffled some papers around. “And Sorinah.”
The three of us shared a look as my heart dropped and my throat tightened in real fear. Why was Roman’s vampire sire here? Not just here in our house but in New Orleans. I can’t even remember the last time she saw Roman. More than a century at least.
“Shit,” Aiden mumbled. “If she’s here then something is really wrong.”
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself. Aiden was absolutely right.
With a groan, I looked around the room and took a quick assessment.
The bodies were gone, thanks to Aiden’s fire magic, and most of the blood had been mopped up.
But I could still smell the residuals of torture and if Sorinah came down here, she would know what happened in an instant.
It wasn’t a good look that Roman had just killed a dozen or so members of the Crescent Coven.
“I’ll lock this room up good,” Dorian offered when I looked at his frazzled hair and haunted eyes.
“And I’ll go get Roman.” Aiden disappeared before I had a chance to give him the command. That asshole.
Quickly trying to figure out a plan of attack, I pulled down the hem of my shirt and tried to brush the wrinkles away. There was blood on my sleeves and a few pieces of skin splattered about. Guess I stood a little too close when Roman was taking out his anger.
“Sir?” the voice crackled again. “What should I do?”
“Put them in the library and offer tea. We will be right there,” I called out into the almost empty room. This had once been a beautiful wine cellar. But now it was tarnished with the negative energy of dead witches and warlocks.
“You need to change,” Dorian suggested with a sigh. “And fuck you for making me finish this.”
Ignoring his attitude since I didn’t have time to beat up a werewolf before meeting our guests, I took off my shirt and handed it to Dorian.
“And what the hell am I supposed to do with this?”
“Meet me in the library in ten minutes,” I answered instead. “And make sure Aiden is with you.”
Dorian cursed at my back as I walked out of the room.
His attitude was the least of my worries right now.
First, I needed clean clothes and a clear head.
Our three visitors did not bode well for our situation.
Roman had just gone on a revenge rampage, and I had no doubt that was going to be a major part of the conversation.
Plus…Sorinah. She was an Ancient, turned many centuries ago, who had sired Roman with the hopes he would be her mate.
Apparently, that had ended badly, according to Roman, and I knew the man held an understandable amount of fear of the woman.
A house call from the Mayor and the Senator was bad enough, and I worried that my oldest friend wasn’t in the correct headspace to deal with them on top of Sorinah.
After a quick trip to my suite to pull on a suit, I walked underneath the stairway to leave the wing of the abbey with our rooms and made my way toward the other side to the front entrance we used only for guests.
The library was right off the main foyer.
We used it for business meetings as a way to avoid having guests move about freely within our territory.
And after the attack on our home a few days ago, I intended to talk to Roman about not allowing anyone in our space again. No more meetings. No more parties.
The House of Shadows was finished with this ‘being nice to everyone’ bullshit.
Rage started to boil up inside me again, my animal encouraging the hate.
There were days when I loathed that extra part of me that could never see the world.
And then there were days when I begged the universe to let him be free.
I’d been told that the full-blooded dragon shifters had died out long ago, even though stories still circulated.
There were also old rumors about half-breeds shifting, but in all the research Roman and I did, we’d yet to find any real evidence of that.
I’d be lying if I said that hadn’t been disappointing, but I’d learned to accept that I would forever be stuck with an animal inside of me that could never get out.
As I rounded the corner and the foyer came into view, I wished more than any other time in my life that I could let the beast free.
Digging my nails into the palms of my hands, I let the pain ground me as I approached the library.
Pain always helped me focus and kept me grounded in the present.
It also helped me fight the urges I had that might get me in trouble.
Like the growing feelings I had for Katarina and like the worry brewing inside of me now.
Roman and Aiden rushed into the foyer, Aiden’s hair flying freely and Roman’s face flushed with the evidence of his supernatural speed. He tapped Aiden on the shoulder and then faced me. “Is it true? She’s here?”
“Afraid so.”
“Shit,” he muttered while he tried to make his torture wardrobe more presentable. After looking down at the blood-stained apparel, he huffed a laugh and rubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck it.”
Aiden and I followed Roman through the extra tall double doors that led into the library.
Dorian ran up behind us, sliding to a stop just inches from my back.
I turned and glared at him, and he simply narrowed his eyes.
Dorian needed to mind the order of things in this house, but since we were all a bit on edge right now, I reined in my anger. Just a little.
“Sorinah, it’s so great to see you,” Roman cooed as we entered the room. He ignored the two human lawmakers, and I bit down my smile. I’d never liked the Mayor and Roman had nothing good to say about the Senator he’d paid for.
Roman gave his sire a full kiss on the mouth in greeting.
Sorinah had the same dark hair and complexion as Roman, both originating from Eastern Europe.
But where Roman had an aura of authority and power emanating from him, Sorinah’s exterior appearance made it more difficult for her to claim the room.
She’d been turned as a teenager. Perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old.
Today she wore a tight, black business dress that clung to her tiny body.
She’d straightened her hair and it flowed down to her lower back, almost to the place where it curved in.
Stiletto heels and a very expensive clutch topped off her outfit along with a bright red lipstick that accentuated her plush lips.